The best apps to learn a new language

2 years ago

5 min read

Learning another language might sound difficult and scary – but it doesn’t have to be. It’s rewarding and is a great help when you go travelling to different countries. Whether you’re curious to learn a few key phrases and are a complete beginner, or are at a more intermediate level, there’s a wide range of apps to help you reach your goal.

Each app offers different learning styles as well, from flashcards to one on one conversations, quizzes, games & more. We sorted through some of the top language learning apps to help you find the one that best fits your style so you’ll be speaking another language in no time.

Often voted as one of the best language learning apps out there, it’s hard to beat as it offers varied lessons for all types of learners, plus it’s free!

Duolingo uses a combination of text, audio and pictures to help you understand the new language. You translate your native language into the new language and vice versa to help reinforce the unknown words. The user journey is super smooth and also fun as your progress is gamified. The more sections you complete, the farther you move forward to new vocabulary and grammar, all the while gaining extra “gems”. You can spend them in their shop on things like quirky bonus skills, such as “How to flirt” in your chosen language.

Memrise is another great and free learning app, with a pretty unique way of helping you remember the new language.

It focuses on building connections to the vocabulary with mnemonics and memes, with the flashcards being continually repeated to help you mem(o)rise. The journey might not be as smooth as some of the other programs, but with using such an interesting way of repetition and rote memorisation, it definitely helps you recall words much faster. There’s also a user community where people can share different memes and bizarre associations of their own that have helped them learn the language.

Babbel offers insightful step-by-step teaching of vocabulary, and is another great way to learn a new language from the beginning.

They start with educating you on the vocab words, then slowly start to use them in related phrases and dialogues. The aim is so you can see how the vocabulary is used in every day conversation to help you build your speaking skills. There are also useful pop-ups that explain important rules about grammar, so you can understand the language at its roots. Though the general courses are free, they do offer specific packages and more advanced level courses for a small price.

HelloTalk is very different in that it does not have courses – it aims to teach you by directly connecting you to native speakers of the language you want to learn.

The whole app is set up as a messaging service, so you can have one on one talks and practice actually speaking the language in conversation. You can either send voice or text messages to the native speaker, and there are great built-in tools like a voice to text and built-in corrections to help you even even further. It’s a powerful learning tool, but might be more useful once you have gotten the hang of the basics of your new language!

TripLingo does exactly what its name suggests, which is to quickly help you understand the basic phrases in another language before a trip abroad.

This app differs in that you’re not taught the full language or its rules, but rather useful expressions so that you can safely get around on your trip. With sections like “business phrases”, “safety phrases” or “food phrases”, you’ll be able to really feel at home even when abroad. It also has one of the coolest add-ons to any of these language apps – a built-in voice translator. Great for use in emergencies, with it you can speak English into your phone and then the app will render what you have said into the foreign language.

Another app that doesn’t have full courses, but is still extremely helpful for learning a new language.

(How To) Pronounce is perfect for going over any and all pronunciations that you might be stuck on. You simply type in either a word or a sentence, and the app will let you know exactly how to say it. Though it might not teach full courses on the phrases themselves, it can be a great supplement when you combine it with other language learning apps!

Lingua.ly is a language learning app that teaches you in a way very different from the rest – by having you read articles from across the web that you’re interested in, in the new language.

The app takes a look at your online activity and gives you articles in the new language that it thinks you would actually read in your native language. If you don’t understand any words, you just click on them and the app will tell you the translation as well as how to pronounce it. This is another program that would be good once you have the basic understandings of the language. By using this in conjunction with one of the other learning apps, you’ll learn the language much more quickly, as seeing words and phrases you know in context that you’re familiar with will make it easier.

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